TITLE
Recommendation that City Council review and adopt the proposed City of Long Beach Open Government Policy, which includes provisions for the continuance of existing open government actions currently implemented by the City Clerk Department and certain advisory bodies, as well as the reporting of transparency, participation, collaboration, and flagship initiatives of City departments on an annual and biennial basis.
DISCUSSION
On January 4, 2011, the City Council directed the City Clerk Department to completed three assignments: [1] development of an open government policy; [2] creation of an open government steering committee; [3] online look up of executed City contracts; and [4] a method by which residents and voters could comment on City Council agenda items, and where possible, extension of the same to other Council committees and advisory boards. The sections that follow address each of the foregoing tasks.
Open Government Policy
After a survey of open government policy in Salt Lake City Utah and the White House’s Open Government Initiative website, City Clerk staff has drafted the attached policy with the
The main points of the proposed policy are that the City will:
· Identify transparency as a core function of local government;
· Act to disclose information rapidly, subject to privacy, confidentiality, security, and budget constraints, and will provide foreign language interpreters during public meetings as may be appropriate;
· Continue to provide searchable online agendas, staff reports, and videos for City Council, Planning Commission, and Redevelopment Agency meetings;
· Provide for the view of executed contracts and submittal of public comment on agenda items over the Internet;
· Conduct municipal elections with the highest level of transparency as specified;
· On a biennial basis beginning in July 2012, request that departments report on their transparency efforts, with annual highlights in their annual budget narratives, e...
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